Five Dead In Southern Israel Bank Robbery

posted 20 May 2013, 06:27 by Mpelembe
[
updated 20 May 2013, 06:28
]

Five people are killed in a bank robbery in Israel, including one of the robbers, who turned the gun on himself.

BEER SHEBA, ISRAEL (MAY 20, 2013) (REUTERS) - A bank robbery in Israel on Monday (May 20) ended with the deaths of five people, including one of the robbers who turned the gun on himself when police launched a raid to free hostages held in the bank.

Regional police commander Yoram Levy told Israel Radio that four people had been killed in the incident, before the robber apparently shot himself dead.

Police anti-terror forces surrounded the branch of Hapoalim Bank in the southern city of Beer Sheba after two robbers carried out the botched lunchtime heist in a residential street.

Witnesses reported volleys of gunfire, and a nearby school went into lockdown. During the stand-off, police apprehended one of the robbers, but the other remained holed up in the bank with at least one hostage, who later emerged unscathed.

Violent bank heists are rare in Israel. In 2011, a robber killed a security guard in a bank in the centre of the country.